The society of individuals
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The society of individuals
(The collected works of Norbert Elias, v. 10)
University College Dublin Press, 2010
- Other Title
-
Die Gesellschaft der Individuen
Available at 2 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
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  United States of America
Note
Translation of: Die Gesellschaft der Individuen / Norbert Elias
Originally published: Frankfurt am Main : Suhrkamp, 1987, rev. 2001
Includes bibliographical references (p. [217]-220) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Philosophers and social scientists have for decades - centuries even - tied themselves in knots over the supposed problem of 'individual' versus 'society', and its offshoots such as 'agency' and 'structure'. Elias shows the falsity of problem, which ought to be easily resolved by thinking in terms of processes extending over the generations - though in practice the baleful influence of philosophy leads to its constant resurrection. "The Society of Individuals" consists of three essays, the first written in 1939, the second dating from the 1940s and 1950s, and the third a final reflection composed in 1987 only three years before Elias' death. In each, Elias takes the discussion to a new level, demonstrating that individualisation is an inherent component of the personal socialisation process and of inter-generational civilising processes, exploding the myth of the 'We-less ego', and introducing important conceptual innovations, including 'I-identity' versus 'We-identity' and the 'We-I balance'.
Table of Contents
- Norbert Elias (1897-1990)
- Note on the text
- Preface
- Part I: The Society of Individuals (1939)
- Part II: Problems of self-consciousness and the image of man (1940s-1950s): Wishful and fearful self-images of humans as individuals and of society
- The thinking statues individualisation in the social process
- Part III: Changes in the we-I balance (1987)
- Appendix I: Rainer Maria Rilke, 'The Book of Pilgrimage'
- Appendix II: Two poems by Goethe
- Appendix III: Power struggles and the concepts of 'state' and 'society'
- Appendix IV: Migration and the conflict of generations
- Bibliography
- Index.
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